PVC imports to Russia up by 59% in Jan-Apr 2021, exports down by 12%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Imports of suspension polyvinyl chloride (SPVC) into Russia totalled 8,600 tonnes in the first four months of 2021, up by 59% year on year. At the same time, exports decrease by 12%, according to MRC's DataScope report.

April SPVC imports to Russia dropped to 1,000 tonnes from 4,300 tonnes in March. The rise in export prices of acetylene resin in China and large purchases in March led to lower imports in April. Overall imports totalled 8,600 tonnes in the first four months of 2021, compared to 5,400 tonnes a year earlier, with resin from China accounting for the main increase in imports.

At the same time, despite higher PVC prices in foreign markets, Russian producers, conversely, reduced their export sales. Overall exports were 66,100 tonnes in January-April 2021 versus 75,000 tonnes a year earlier.
MRC

Trinseo and ETB to explore construction of bio-based 1,3-butadiene pilot plant in Europe

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Trinseo, with ETB's support, will conduct a feasibility study to explore the construction of a bio-based 1,3-butadiene pilot plant in Europe, as per Trinseo's press release.

Thus, Trinseo and ETB have signed a letter of intent to collaborate on the development of purified bio-based 1,3-butadiene. This will see the two companies combine their respective technology and process expertise to accelerate the development of viable, renewably sourced material solutions.

Under the partnership, the companies will jointly explore opportunities to scale up ETB's unique single-stage process to produce bio-based 1,3-butadiene from ethanol using polyfunctional catalyst technology.

The collaboration will initially focus on demonstrating the viability of sustainable ethanol-based synthetic rubber in support of green tire production. To underline this mutual commitment, the partners will conduct a feasibility study to explore the construction of a dedicated bio-based 1,3-butadiene pilot plant in Europe. Once operational, it is intended that the pilot plant will include a purification unit to achieve a purity target of 99.7%.

Bio-based butadiene is considered a vital first component in the value chain for enabling the replacement of fossil-based raw materials with renewable sources, thereby reducing the environmental footprint of consumer products, such as performance tires throughout their lifecycle. It also represents a key milestone in Trinseo’s transformation as a sustainable solutions provider.

Within the past six months, Trinseo achieved International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) and has become the first synthetic rubber provider globally to gain mass balance certification. In addition, Trinseo recently announced a business collaboration with BASF in the area of circular feedstocks, with the aim of strengthening the efforts of both companies in the development and management of styrene with an improved environmental profile.

It is anticipated that the pilot plant evaluation study will be completed by the close of 2021. Both companies share the long-term ambition of scaling up live production globally.

As MRC reported earlier, Trinseo and its affiliate companies in Europe have announced a price increase for all polystyrene (PS), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer (SAN) in Europe. Effective May 1, 2021, or as existing contract terms allow, the contract and spot prices for the products listed below rose as follows:

- STYRON general purpose polystyrene grades (GPPS) -- by EUR105 per metric ton;
- STYRON and STYRON A-Tech and STYRON X- Tech and STYRON C- Tech high impact polystyrene grades (HIPS) - by EUR105 per metric ton;
- MAGNUM ABS resins - by EUR160 per metric ton;
- TYRIL SAN resins - by EUR170 per metric ton.

According to ICIS-MRC Price report, in Russia, Nizhnekamskneftekhim's PS prices remained unchanged in May. Prices of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's GPPS were in the range of Rb 192,000-203,000/tonne, CPT Moscow, including VAT, whereas HIPS prices were at Rb196,000-207,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. At the same time, May prices of Penoplex's material fell by Rb15,000/tonne to Rb204,000-206,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT. And prices of Gazprom neftekhim Salavat's GPPS were not adjusted in early May.

Trinseo is a global materials company and manufacturer of plastics, latex and rubber. Trinseo's technology is used by customers in industries such as home appliances, automotive, building & construction, carpet, consumer electronics, consumer goods, electrical & lighting, medical, packaging, paper & paperboard, rubber goods and tires. Formerly known as Styron, Trinseo completed its renaming process in 1Q 2015. Trinseo had approximately USD3.0 billion in net sales in 2020, with 17 manufacturing sites around the world, and approximately 2,600 employees.
MRC

Axens introduces newly created family brand aimed for production of ethylene, propylene, butadiene and aromatics

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Axens has announced the launch of SeLene, a newly created family brand dedicated to selective hydrogenation, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Selective hydrogenation is an essential purification step for the production of the most critical building blocks of the petrochemical industry. These blocks include ethylene, propylene, butadiene and aromatics. Selective hydrogenation is also applied in several refinery processing schemes, and plays an increasingly important role in the widely adopted, fully integrated, refinery and petrochemical operation.

Axens proposes a broad catalyst portfolio to deliver optimal performance, specifically tailored for the selective hydrogenation needs of the customers thanks to over 50 years of powerful innovation aimed at improving the active phase impregnation, combined with state-of-the-art alumina carriers.

SeLene family combines over 20 industrially proven catalysts along with tailor-made services to provide dedicated solutions to meet customer needs. Moreover, SeLene also welcomes Axens latest catalysts with new performance features to help customers creating even more value along the whole olefins chain from the acetylene to the Pygas cut.

As MRC reported earlier, following the successful start-up of the 1.1 MTA FLEXICOKING unit at the end of 2019, Hengyi Industries has recently selected Axens technology for a second time to upgrade the heavy feeds of its 16-MTA capacity for the New Crude to Aromatics Phase II expansion project.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
MRC

PP prices continued to go down in the Russian market in May

PP prices continued to go down in the Russian market in May
MOSCOW (MRC) - An increase in the supply of polypropylene (PP) led to a decrease in prices in the Russian market in the second half of April. Weak demand and lower prices in the foreign markets continued the downtrend of PP prices, although not all sellers adjusted their prices, according to the ICIS-MRC Price Report.

The first three months of the year were quite difficult for Russian converters. There was a lack of supply in the market and prices were growing almost weekly under the pressure of the situation in the foreign markets. The supply of polypropylene from some producers increased in April, and the pressure on prices from export markets also eased.
From the middle of the April, polypropylene in Russia began to gradually fall in price, and this process accelerated for some products in May. At the same time, it is worth noting that not all sellers agreed to adjust their PP prices.

Demand for PP has decreased significantly in May. Demand was under pressure from both the long May holidays and the high cost of polypropylene, which many converters with delay and difficulties shifted to the cost of finished products. And due to a lack of working capital and a decrease in demand for finished products, some of the converters reduced the utilisation of capacities, including quite large ones.

Also, additional pressure on demand in the current month was put by converters' expectations of a decrease in polypropylene prices. One of the price growth drivers in Russia in the first three months of the year was the Turkish market, but the situation there changed dramatically in April.

And some Russian companies began to receive "interesting" offers for PP supplies from Asia, including China.
Low demand for polypropylene from converters and sufficient supply, including imports for some types, led to a further decrease in prices.

So, if at the end of April the prices of homopolymer PP were on average at the level of Rb170,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT at a number of sellers. At the end of May, some sellers dropped their prices below the level of Rb160,000 - 165,000/tonne CPT Moscow, including VAT, depending on the type of homopolymer PP.

MRC

Three ExxonMobil refineries in Texas and Louisiana top the list of US polluters

MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil’s US oil refineries pump out far more lung-damaging soot than similarly-sized facilities operated by rivals, according to regulatory documents and a Reuters analysis of pollution test results.

The Texas-based firm’s three largest refineries - two in Texas and one in Louisiana - are the nation’s top three emitters of small particulate matter, according to the analysis of the latest tests submitted to regulators by the nation’s 10 largest refineries.

The three Exxon refineries together averaged emissions of 80 pounds per hour, eight times the average rate of the seven other refineries on the top-ten list, some of which are larger than Exxon's plants, the analysis shows. The top polluter, Exxon's Baton Rouge refinery, averaged 138 pounds per hour.

The performance reflects the firm’s inadequate spending to cut emissions, said Wilma Subra, a Louisiana-based scientist who formerly served on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council.

The company has taken heat for years for its environmental performance. Last week, Exxon lost at least two seats on its board of directors to an activist hedge fund seeking to force the firm to reckon with climate change.

Exxon said in a statement that it tries to comply with environmental laws and has invested billions of dollars to reduce emissions over the last two decades.

The EPA requires plants to restrict small particulate matter emissions to 1 pound or less for every 1,000 pounds of coke burned in a refinery’s catalytic cracking units. But Exxon’s Baton Rouge plant is the only major US refinery that doesn’t have to meet that standard because of an EPA rule that exempts “cat crackers” that were built before 1976 and haven’t been modified since.

Refineries also have to meet state standards for particulate-matter pollution. But those limits can vary widely among states - and among different facilities within states - based on the strictness of state regulators and whether a refinery has agreed to tighter limits to settle lawsuits. And Louisiana regulators allow much higher pollution levels at Exxon’s Baton Rouge plant than at other state refineries.

Exxon’s two big oil refineries in Texas - in Beaumont and Baytown - are also among the top three polluters identified by Reuters. But Exxon’s 517,000-barrel-per-day Baton Rouge plant produces far more soot.

Because the Baton Rouge refinery’s two catalytic crackers were built during World War Two - among the first such units in the country - they are exempt from federal EPA standards.

Big refineries run by Exxon’s rivals are doing much better at controlling soot. Ironically, many of them are using technology invented and licensed by Exxon, according to disclosures by Exxon and environmental regulators.

Specialists in industrial pollution say the differences in performance can be attributed to any of a number of factors: rivals’ equipment could be newer; maintenance schedules may be more frequent; and refining processes before wet gas scrubbing may also be optimized to reduce soot. All of that takes money. In many cases, it also takes lawsuits.

Companies such as BP plc, Marathon Petroleum, Phillips 66 and Valero Energy Corp have made agreements with the EPA in recent years to slash emissions below federal standards to help settle pollution-related litigation, regulatory disclosures show.

As MRC informed earlier, in April, 2021, ExxonMobil, one of the world's petrochemical majors, and Global Clean Energy expanded their five-year agreement to increase ExxonMobil’s purchase of renewable diesel up to 5 million barrels per year.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled576,270 tonnes in the first three month of 2021, up by 4% year on year. Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 410,890 tonnes in January-March 2021, up by 56% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world"s oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC